Hi everyone,
It's been a while! Maybe some of you remember me, I lived in Stuttgart, Germany for 13 years, was fairly active here during that time and had my own walking tour company although I was a bit coy about that due to advertising rules on the forum. Unfortunately due to my husband's career we got rerouted to Omaha, Nebraska. Yay.
We are making a brief return to Europe uh, tomorrow? And due to our current jobs I'm not quite as prepared as I'd like to be so I'm just hoping to run my itinerary by you amazing experts to see if I'm missing anything obvious. Please keep in mind that if you're not familiar with me, I have spent lots of time in London, Paris, and Munich so if you have recommendations, it's not the Louvre, but maybe something overlooked that routes nicely with our overly busy schedule early on in our trip.
7/19: Depart Omaha at 4:58, connect Houston to Heathrow
7/20: Arrive at 12:50 with one checked bag (I need my fancy sunscreen in the big tube). Catch the bus from Heathrow to Oxford, no advance tickets since price is the same. We will have sim cards/data so I could buy tickets when we land, but I think we might just pay on the bus?
Arrive Oxford hopefully by 15-15:30ish. Drop bags in left luggage, fight off jet lag by walking around Oxford, we've decided to skip Christchurch this time as timed entry + jetlag just seem to put too much pressure on. Would love a way to see a view of Oxford's spires though if anyone has any recommendations. Our friends, who live in Abington and will be themselves crossing the pond earlier in the day, will pick us up in Oxford around 18:00 and we'll stay with them.
7/21: Friends have the day off, will sightsee with us, either Blenheim Palace (pending friends' confirmation of existing National Trust pass) or possibly back to Oxford for Christchurch and/or Ashmolean, and/or a little Cotswold tour. Friends are American who have lived in the area and will probably lead us in one direction/we're at their mercy since we aren't driving. Leaning towards Blenheim. Would love suggestions/advice here.
7/22: Will try to make it to the Didicot Train Museum in the morning, at lunchtime friend will drive us to London, staying at an AirBnB very close to St. Pancras. We have early dinner reservations at Dishoom Covent Garden at 16:30, and tickets to see Cole Escola in their West End debut of "Oh Mary" at Trafalgar Theater at 19:30. National Portrait Gallery seems like a natural fit, I've been, husband hasn't, but I'd love to see it again. Would also love to be near a shop selling Premier League/England National Team gear if at all possible. Will probably hit a pub afterwards for drinks and a snack and retire fairly early as
7/23: 7:00am Eurostar from St. Pancras to Gare du Nord in Paris arriving 10:10 am. First time on the Eurostar! Plan is to hit the metro to Montparnasse to drop luggage at hotel near there, grab a quick bahn mi sandwich, before our 13:15 tickets to the Notre Dame tower tour. Free time afterwards before dinner at 19:00 in our hotel neighborhood near Montparnasse. We'll have a good deal of time between the Notre Dame tour and dinner. Tried to get Orangerie tickets but they sold out. Will also be perfectly fine just walking around enjoying Paris but let me know if I'm missing something.
7/24: Tickets for Orsay, the only big museum in Paris we haven't done, at 11:30am. If we have time after, I want to swim in the Seine at Paris Plage. We catch a train to Stuttgart from Gare Du Nord at 17:00ish and will be in Stuggi by 21:00.
I don't really need help with the rest of it as we're enjoying CSD in Stuttgart, visiting friends, and seeing old haunts (all the biergartens). We are going to Munich with friends Friday - Sunday, then flying from Munich to Athens to spend August 2nd through 6th on Agistri before we fly back to Omaha.
Am I overlooking anything? Any cool exhibits going on?